Friday, August 31, 2012

Phat Brats 'Dogustation'

Disclaimer: I was invited to nom complimentary at the Phat Brats Dogustation

Couple weeks back, if you follow me on twitter, you may have observed myself, and a couple of other bloggers, tweeting rather mouth watering photos of hotdogs all night.

The event was 'Dogustation', where Phat Brats treated us to a selection of some of their best gourmet dogs. Paired with beer. The epitome of urban fanciness hey?

Phat Brats is a chilled out little spot, no-fuss, no-muss, but honest, wholesome gourmet hot dogs, in a very befitting location on Brunswick Street.

It was an awesomely fun night, the cosy little store was packed out with people, despite how cold it was that night, and the night started with corn pups with the house tomato sauce and mustard. I absolutely adored how novel these were! It was so much fun to eat them like a lollipop!

Next up was a beer soaked bratwurst with house BBQ sauce, pulled pork and appleslaw. Not just one protein…two? Sign me up buddy! It was well seasoned and the apples made for a nice refreshing change.

It's easy to think that with hot dogs (like burgers) that it's all about the meat. But at Phat Brats, they do cater to the vegetarians…and pretty well if I do say so myself! They had both the vegetarian options out on offer, the first of which was the black bean, lentil and veg 'sausage' with rawslaw, beetroot salsa, cheese sauce and a green pickle relish. I missed actually eating this one, but my mouth was just watering looking at the beetroot relish run over other people's fingers. So much jelly.

But it's alright! I at least managed to get my hands on the superfood dog, with a 'sausage' made of sweet potato, quinoa and tamarind, with a chilli lime mayo, minted peas, alfalfa, coriander and sour cream. Phew! The toppings keep coming! Whilst it's no beef sausage, it was still incredibly tasty, it just didn't quite have the texture that you're used to getting in meat, but that's not really anybody's fault here. We did find the toppings a little bit awkward to get our mouths around, but other than that, it's great to see that the vegetarian aren't forgotten in a cuisine (can hotdogs be counted as their own cuisine now?) which is very meat orientated.

One of my favourite hot dogs of the night was up next…a lamb and rosemary sausage with rawslaw, house gravy, smashed minted peas and fetta cheese.

It seems everybody couldn't wait to get their hands on it and the chopping boards of dogs were gone almost as soon as they left the kitchen! The peas were perfect with the savoury, juicy lamb which was seasoned just right.

I unfortunately did not try a whole of beers that night, by Southern Bay Brew Co, as someone near me had started drinking the beer we were supposed to be having at the end night by the bottle, much earlier on in the night, commented on how amazing it was and promptly went to go get me a bottle when I had expressed my interest. It was the Metal Head robust porter…which well, was a beautiful beer. Rich, heavy, and just luscious in the mouth, it was indeed very robust. And c'mon, with a label like that, what's not to love?

A traditional degustation would never be complete without dessert….so why should a 'dogustation' be any different? It wasn't.

We were all wondering at first if they used a regular savoury bun, or what they would use in place of it otherwise…we very soon (and happily) found out that the buns had been replaced by doughnuts. Yes. Chocolate ice-cream in doughnuts. With whipped cream. With berries. With nuts. I was very, very tempted to munch down on two of these, but I was unfortunately a little bit full from the other four hot dogs I had had already…if your'e not a sweet tooth, this probably wouldn't be your thing...but if you're a bit of a sugarholic like me...well...don't come here. I'm having them all. So there!

I guess the only thing I was mildly disappointed with this evening, was that we didn't get to try any chips. I dunno, it just seems like it would have been the perfect thing to have with hot dogs and beer. You feel me? But regardless, everything we did have was indeed, honest, homely and well seasoned, but with a twist of fanciness. And I guess, to be completely honest, I'm quite glad we didn't have more to eat as I was quite stuffed indeed (and what food lover ever likes to admit they can't eat more…)!